Panasonic third-quarter operating profit jumps 23 percent; outlook hiked

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Panasonic Corp reported on Monday a 23 percent increase in third-quarter operating profit on solid sales of car components and factory automation equipment, and raised its full-year earnings outlook.

The electronics giant posted an operating profit of 120.1 billion yen ($1.09 billion) for the October-December quarter, up from 97.6 billion yen a year prior. That was above a consensus estimate of 105.7 billion yen from eight analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Panasonic raised its profit forecast for the year ending March to 350 billion yen from 335 billion yen, in line with a consensus estimate of 351 billion yen from 20 analysts.

 

($1 = 109.9300 yen)

(Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Edwina Gibbs)